Center for Technology in Government receives $90,000 to study information-sharing initiatives overseas

Albany, NY - The University at Albany's Center for Technology in Government (CTG) today announced receipt of a $90,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to explore IT innovation in complex multiorganizational government settings. The project, a collaboration with European Union (EU) initiatives, expands CTG's government IT (information technology) research to an international stage.

"This is a great opportunity for the Center and UAlbany to expand our global reach with research colleagues in the European Union. Every collaborative partnership that we participate in broadens our base of knowledge and increases our capacity to support the work of government right here in Albany," said Sharon Dawes, director of the Center for Technology in Government.

For the past two years, the Center has explored how government agencies share information across organizations and levels of government. This work, supported by a $1.2 million grant from NSF, has focused on initiatives designed to improve public safety and public health. The new research endeavor enables CTG to compare the results of this research with two different EU projects.

The EU projects include an IT project for urban regeneration called IntelCities, headquartered in Manchester, England, and an effort to create open source software standards that could be adapted and used by European governments called COSPA. These two projects, along with CTG's information integration research, tackle the global research question of how IT innovation takes place in intricate, multiorganizational government settings.

"Governments all over the world are faced with unprecedented challenges of sharing information among various agencies and programs. The example used most often these days is homeland security information; local police must share information with county sheriffs and state police and federal law enforcement and vice versa. We've been studying how that information sharing takes place," said CTG Deputy Director Anthony Cresswell. "With this grant, we can look at similar information sharing initiatives in other countries."

This latest international research project builds on CTG's growing portfolio of international research that includes the project New Models of Collaboration for Delivering Government Services (www.ctg.albany.edu/publications/online/new_models/) and hosting research exchanges with scholars and government officials from all over the world.

The Center for Technology in Government (CTG) works with government to develop information strategies that foster innovation and enhance the quality and coordination of public services. They conduct applied research and partnership projects on the policy, management, and technology issues surrounding information use in the public sector.

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